| dc.description.abstract | This is a descriptive and exploratory study which examines
the characteristics and expressed motivations among older adults
in Thunder Bay toward volunteerism and if altruism is in fact the
main reason for why older adults volunteer. This study also
investigates the continuity theory; an explanation of why these
older adults might have an ongoing history of volunteering.
There is also a brief section on older adults' expressed
attitudes toward volunteering.
An interview schedule was used for the collection of data
during eighty-five face-to-face interviews with older adult
volunteers aged 50 and over. The results showed that the
majority of older adult volunteers in Thunder Bay are female and
mainly between the ages of 50-69. Contrary to one's assumption,
educational attainment does not seem to be as decisive a factor
in determining their characteristics, yet many did come from
"highly skilled" occupations. The combination of educational
attainment and occupation lend support to the skills and
experience these older adults bring to their volunteer
activities. The majority of these older adults are also in
"good" health, married, are Protestant, have sufficient wealth to
devote their leisure time to volunteering and have generally high
levels of life satisfaction. Some socio-demographic variables as
well as health were examined more closely in order to provide a clearer picture of the characteristics of these older adult
volunteers.
For this study, the term altruistic was re-defined to mean
that one volunteers to help others but with the realization of
receiving something in return, and the majority of older adults
in this study were found to volunteer more for "altruistic"
reasons. Those who are male, married, healthier, Roman Catholic
and retired also volunteer for "altruistic" reasons. As well,
males perform more "support" type services and females perform
more "direct" type services- Results revealed that as education
increased, older adults' reasons for volunteering for generally
altruistic reasons decreased, "skilled" older adults volunteer
for less altruistic reasons; and with an increase in income,
there was a decrease in older adults volunteering again for
altruistic reasons. What was interesting was that transportation
and the re-imbursement of out-of-pocket expenses, perceivably two
factors that might affect older adults' ability to volunteer, was
of little concern to them.
Older adults in Thunder Bay also have a history of
volunteering. This result affirms the continuation of life
processes and supports reference to the continuity theory as
explanation for why they volunteered and are not necessarily
volunteering upon retirement or the loss of a role. These older
adults are satisfied and happy in their volunteer endeavours yet
did express frustration with the amount of effort and commitment
from some other older adult volunteers. | |
